New records of the drywood termite, Incisitermes platycephalus (Light, 1933) (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae), from Central America and senior synonym of I. nigritus (Snyder, 1946)

Rudolf H Scheffrahn

doi:10.15560/16.2.501

Abstract

New World species of the genus Incisitermes Krishna, 1961 range from California to Peru.&nbsp; The soldier of this genus is notable for the incised anterior margin of the pronotum and the elongated third antennal article.&nbsp; I report the broad occurrence of Incisitermes platycephalus (Light, 1933) from extreme southern Mexico to the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. Incisitermes nigritus (Snyder, 1946) from Guatemala is a junior synonym of I. platycephalus. &nbsp;Among Incisitermes, I. &nbsp;platycephalus is characterized by its small size, dark imago, and dorsoventrally compressed soldier head capsule.

Highlights

Among Incisitermes, I. platycephalus is characterized by its small size, dark imago, and dorsoventrally compressed soldier head capsule
I consider I. nigritus to be a junior synonym of I. platycephalus
Snyder’s (1946) measurements of I. nigritus match those of the major soldier and alate of I. platycephalus from Nicaragua (Figs 2, 3) and compares well with the I. nigritus cotype imagos that I have examined: GUATEMALA

Summary

Introduction

The genus Incisitermes Krishna, 1961 occurs in all zoogeographical regions except the Ethiopian Region. The New World species of Incisitermes are found from northern California to central Peru (Scheffrahn 2019a). Collections of kalotermitid species tend to be underrepresented compared to other termite taxa because their workings are cryptic and they are difficult to extract from their home wood (Scheffrahn et al 2018). In tropical Mexico and mainland Central America, eight species of Incisitermes are known: I. emersoni (Light, 1933), I. immigrans (Snyder, 1922), I. marginipennis (Latreille, 1817), I. nigritus (Snyder, 1946), I. nishimurai Scheffrahn, 2014, I. platycephalus (Light, 1933), I. schwarzi (Banks, 1919) [= I. tabogae (Snyder, 1924), see James et al 2013 and Boscaro et al 2017], and I. seeversi (Snyder & Emerson, 1949). I report new records of I. platycephalus from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. I consider I. nigritus to be a junior synonym of I. platycephalus (new synonymy)

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Discussion